Problems paying?

We take swift recovery action against people who don't pay and if necessary through the courts. If you are taken to court for not paying you'll have to pay the extra charges.

If you do not pay your Council Tax on time, we will first send you a reminder notice.

Reminder Notice

• If you do not bring the payments up to date within seven days you will lose the right to pay by instalments.
• After a further seven days we will issue you with a final notice.

• The final notice asks you to pay the full amount you owe for the year.
• If you do not pay the full amount displayed on the final notice and we do not hear from you, you will be sent a summons and have costs of £60.
• Partial payment will not prevent a summons from being sent.

Once we have sent the summons, it cannot be withdrawn. If you wish to discuss your summons you can attend a summons surgery. Dates will be provided with your summons. If you cannot attend a surgery date please contact us.

Unless the summons is served incorrectly, we will not normally withdraw it.

Can I dispute the summons?

It is important you contact us before the court hearing. You may be able to dispute the summons but you should allow enough time for us to look into your dispute.

If we receive your dispute without enough time before your court date to investigate, your hearing may be moved to a later date.

• At the court hearing we will apply for a Liability Order. This gives us additional powers to collect the money you owe. You will incur an additional cost of £50 at this point, bringing total costs to £110. You have the right to attend the liability order hearing but we won't have access to our records at court, so if you want to discuss your account you should contact us before the hearing.
• We will notify you of the Liability Order in writing. You will also receive an income and expenditure form which must be completed in full. Failure to complete the form could result in a maximum fine of £1,000 from the Magistrates Court. If you don't return this form or don't make an arrangement the account is likely to go to an Enforcement Agent.

After the Liability Order is issued

We recognise that some people are not able to pay their bill because of genuine financial hardship or other difficulties. We offer help and support to all customers who are experiencing difficulties making their payments.

If you are struggling to pay your council tax you should let us know. Contact a Recovery Officer

Enforcement Agents, or, as you might know them, bailiffs, have the power to take your goods. This means that they can seize your possessions and sell them to raise enough money to pay off the outstanding council tax bill.

They will also need to cover their own fees. To start with, the Enforcement Agents write to you and charge a compliance fee of £75. It is very important that you do not ignore their letters. If you do, you might end up having to pay extra fees to them.

Unless the Enforcement Agent has been instructed incorrectly we won't ask them to pass the case back to us. This is because we have already given you an opportunity to make an arrangement with us by sending an income and expenditure form.

Body cameras

Since 2016 our Enforcement Agents wear 'Body Worn Cameras' to record their visits. If you are visited by an Enforcement Agent they will confirm that they are wearing a camera and that they are recording. You can request they turn off the camera but remember recording may protect your interests as it will provide an accurate record of what happened during the visit.

Our Enforcement Agents will also turn off their cameras in situations where children or vulnerable people are present. The cameras will enable us to carefully monitor our Enforcement Agent's actions and help us to investigate any complaints you may have.

The Enforcement Agent will switch their camera on, even if permission has been withdrawn, if they are threatened, abused or subject to insinuation or inappropriate behaviour. In such circumstances the Enforcement Agent will also withdraw from the situation.

Read about action taken by Enforcement Agents

We can issue an order to your employer for money to be deducted directly from your earnings. See the percentage of your net earnings set by GOV.UK

If you are getting one of the following benefits we can request for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to make deductions directly from your benefit.

• Pension Credit Guarantee Credit
• Income Support
• Job Seeker's Allowance (JSA)
• Employment & Support Allowance (ESA)
• Universal Credit

If you owe more than £1,000 and we hold a Liability Order for the balance due, then an application for a charging order may be made. The Order must be secured against the same property to which the Liability Order has already been obtained for the outstanding debt.

A Charging Order gives us security for the debt. This means the debt would become secured like a mortgage on your house. The application for a Charging Order has two stages:

Stage One – The Interim Order

We make an application for a Charging Order and the court will make what is called an interim charging order if it is satisfied that you own, or have a part share (an interest), in the property in question.

An Interim Charging Order is usually made automatically without a hearing. A copy of the Interim Order will be sent to you. If the Interim is disputed, we will need to hold a hearing.

The hearing is for the court to decide whether to make the charging order permanent. This hearing is likely to be held in the district judge's private rooms.

We will also register the Interim Charging Order as a 'caution' on your property with the Land Registry who should inform you of this in writing. This means you cannot sell the property before the hearing.

From the date of the final Charging Order, we charge statutory interest of 8% per year on our Charging Orders.

Stage Two – The Final Charging Order

The second stage is the court hearing in front of the District Judge. At this hearing the court will decide whether to make a permanent charge on the property.

If you object to a Charging Order being made final then you should send us and the court written evidence stating why you object. You should do this at least seven days before the hearing. This could be in the form of a letter of objection outlining all the arguments you have for why the Charging Order should not be made. This should be sent by registered post to both us and the court. The court must consider whether it is reasonable to make a Charging Order and will consider your personal circumstances.

Can we sell your home?

Technically, yes. If we have a Final Charging Order, we could apply to sell your home to pay the debt although it is up to the court to decide whether to make an order for sale or not. You should seek independent legal advice once this procedure has started.

If you owe £5,000 or more in council tax, we may take insolvency action by serving a Statutory Demand. This document lists all of your known debts and gives you 18 days to set aside the Demand or 21 days to make arrangement for payment in full.

By making you bankrupt, there are consequences of this action which include the following;

• Full financial details have to be provided to the person appointed by the Court to deal with the insolvency
• The bankruptcy will be published in the local press
• You could lose your home and possessions
• Your employer would be informed
• You will have difficulty getting credit or opening a bank account
• You should seek independent legal advice once this procedure has started.

Seek free money advice from StepChange

Committal action is not taken lightly and is only used as a last resort.

We will make an application to the Magistrates' Court for a warrant for your arrest to be issued. This document is then passed onto our Enforcement Agents for them to carry out.

You will be bailed to attend the Magistrates' Court for a specific date and the Enforcement Agent will provide you with an income and expenditure form that must be completed in preparation of the court date.

At the hearing the Clerk of the Court will ask you why the council tax hasn't been paid and will have to decide whether you have deliberately refused to pay, known as 'wilful refusal' or 'culpable neglect'.

The Clerk will ask you questions about your income and expenditure during the time the debt was payable this will help the Magistrate decide if you have deliberately avoided paying or neglected to pay.

The magistrate will review your current income and expenditure, they may ask you to explain this in more detail. They will then retire to make their decision.

Possible Outcomes

• Court order with a suspended sentence – You will be ordered to pay a set amount for example £100 per month and told that if you do not keep to the payments you will go to prison for a set amount of time.
• Committal to Prison – the Magistrates can send you to prison immediately.
• Write off all or some of the debt – the magistrates can write off all or some of the council tax owed, if only some of the debt owed is written off the Magistrate may make a Court Order on the balance.
• Adjournment – should more information or evidence be required before a decision can be made, the case can be postponed to a later date.

What if I fail to attend the Court Hearing?

If you don't appear in court an application will be made to the Magistrate for a warrant for arrest without bail. An Enforcement Officer or Police Officer can arrest you and take you straight to the Court to appear before the magistrate. You should seek independent legal advice once this procedure has started.